Shalandar ~ MtG blog

Installation Instructions Overhaul

2006-08-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

If you've ever been unsuccessful trying to set up this game, especially if you're running Windows XP, you will be happy to know that the Installation Instructions have been thoroughly overhauled. Even if you opt for the pre-configured fix, you should still at least skim them all so that you catch important stuff like the screen resolution warning. Enjoy!

Shalandar Creature Curve

2006-04-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

First off, you should go read an article or two from a Google query for "Mana Curve", there are so many good articles on the subject I'll just summarize here. The bottom line is that mana curve is about balancing the casting cost of the spells in a deck so that during the vital first turns of a game you are able to play one land each turn and fully utilize every point of mana available. A deck with an optimized mana curve favors lower cost spells, but mana curve cuts both ways. If you've got too many one-drops you won't be able to fully utilize the three mana that is available on turn 2 or 3.

Here's a sample mana curve from one of the math heavier articles I read:
12 cards of 1 mana.
8 cards of 2 mana.
6 cards of 3 mana.
4 cards of 4 mana.

Here's a deck that I built in Shalandar, fighting duels to gather the cards just like in the old days…

I continued playing the deck in Shalandar, defeating all but one of the wizards, gathering all the more powerful spells from dungeons, and hunting Mind Stealers to make copies of them. The deck evolved, at one point it had white for Savanah Lions, Swords to Plowshares, Disenchants and Serra Angels. Eventually it settled on Blue for the third color, as every Type I or Shalandar deck eventually does. Here is what is likely the most powerful version of the deck. I'm also working on a Land Destruction / Amnesia varient similar to Edge of What?, but with (obviously) better consideration given to its mana curve.

Once I'm done building out the Land Destruction varient, expect to see a Type 1.5 constructed version. I just love this aggressive fast creature with a blue-control deck end game concept.

Windows XP Installation Instructions

2005-12-28T16:25:00.000-08:00

If you're running Windows XP and have been having trouble getting MicroProse's Magic: The Gathering PC game to work check out the Updated Windows XP Instructions on my installation instructions page.

These instructions have not been verified, so if somebody does try them please contact me and tell me if they work.

New Domain: Shalandar.com

2006-04-10T17:41:00.000-07:00

The MtG Blog and associated pages are getting their very own domain: Shalandar.com! It will remain integrated with my personal site for the time being, we'll see what happens in the future.

The only new feature I can promise with the new domain is a downloads section to fill in one small gap left by the demise of the-underdogs. The only catch is that, since I don't really want to become a public abandonware site, downloads will be by request only. But I'll come up with a short form to make the requests as painless as possible.

Submit a Deck

2005-06-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

Technical Instructions

Find the \Playdeck folder in your MtG installation. Locate the .dck file for your deck and open it in a text editor (such as Notepad). Follow the Post a Comment link on this page, and Copy&Paste the contents of the .dck file into the comment.

Also, you are welcome to include the following:

What type of deck it is. It could by Type 1, Type 1.5, Shalandar, or even just a casual deck.
Any special notes about play; card combinations, sequence of play.
Anecdotes about where the deck's inspiration came from are invited, though you are under no obligation to ramble on as much as I do.

Deck Contents Guidelines

The primary guideline here is to be sure to follow the rules for the type of deck that you said it was above. Type 1 decks can only have 1 of each restricted card, in Type 1.5 the restricted list is banned. Tournament quality decks are made of 60 cards, no more, no less.

Other than that I really don't have any other guidelines. In fact, it would be really nice to see some more casual decks. The ones I build are for the most part tournament style decks, built only to win. But since they are built to stand up against other decks build in that style they often have many of the same cards in common. It's those whacky "just for fun" decks, such as Old Man Wolf and Blue Skies, that are the most enjoyable to play. And if Josher (evidently sporting a crazy beard these days) hadn't sent me his Castle/Moat deck I never would have build Blue Skies.

Favorite Decks, ManaLink Connection Instructions

2006-01-24T08:25:00.000-08:00

Still no new decks here, dead or otherwise. But I have been doing a little housekeeping. I've added mini-reviews of my favorite decks for people who are new to the site at the bottom of the Introduction/Setup page. There are so many decks in the archives and the blog, thought I'd give people a place to start. I've also added the following new setup instructions provided by a tech savy visitor:

Want to play MtG over a LAN? Bill Roth from Michigain wrote out some helpful ManaLink Connection Instructions. Note: not recommended over an open network, as one of the steps includes turning off your firewall.

Sedge Mine

2005-06-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

Type 1.5

Here we have it, my Howilng Mine + Relic Barrier deck. I got the idea for it when I was playtesting Howling Giant Wurmies against a land destruction deck. I had played a Howling Mine in the hopes of digging my way out of the lack of mana. But the problem was you can only play one land per turn, and my opponent was pulling enough land destruction to keep pace with the lands I was putting down. I was never able to dig myself out of that hole. So I determined to build a deck with my favorite new card combination that had at least a little land destruction. Once it's rolling and you're drawing 2-1 just two pockets (sets of four) of land destruction becomes like four, and suddenly you can lock down their primary color.

For land destruction I added Strip Mine and Sinkhole. Earlier drafts included a couple Stone Rain, but later they were dropped because of their high cost. A couple Icy Manipulators go with the Howling/Barrier combo, and can also be used to tap mana sources during the opponent's upkeep. I was also surprised how often I would use a Relic Barrier to pin down a Mox until I got a Howling Mine out.

After observing the Giant Wurmies deck struggling to cast all it's high cost spells I knew this deck would need a lot of one-drop spells to operate effectively – what's the use in drawing all those cards with the Howling Mine if you can't cast them? So I went with Lightning Bolt and Paralyze for creature removal and Birds of Paradise for fast mana. Dark rituals didn't make the cut, but without x-damage spells they had little use mid to late game. The Paralyze work particularly well in that they either neutralize the creature (if your land destruction has them locked) or neutralize most of their land, slowing them down. That's what this deck is all about, slowing them down while it is simultaneously speeding up.

Without Hymn to Tourach my old Type 1 deck has never been what it should be in this game. Since this deck's primary color is black (because sinkholes require ) and red/green were playing support I decided to pull out my favorite three creatures: Hypnotic Spectre, Sedge Troll and Kirk Ape. The Spectres work perfectly with the land destruction, Sedge Trolls are a solid answer to opposing Djinns or Juggernauts, and Kird Apes kick White Knights to the curb.

As a first candidate for my new deck testing regimen this deck turned out to be a poor choice. By the time I had established the categories this deck was finely tuned enough that it ran through each category three times without a loss, or even a single close game. That's 18 straight games without a bad draw. Sounds like my old type 1 deck that swept through the double-elimination Black Lotus tournament without losing a match. Guess that shouldn't be too surprising as two thirds of the deck is identical to my old one.

So that's my answer to building a deck around that card combo. I'd still like to see the Two-Headed Giants make their way into a deck. Maybe another week.

Whatnaut

2005-06-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

& artifact Type 1.5

This deck began with a card and an idea. The card was Transmute Artifact. The idea was that if you cast Transmute Artifact and sacrificed a mana producing artifact, after tapping it for mana, you could put any artifact in your library into play at little to no extra cost. A Mana Vault can pull out an artifact that costs 4 (without sticking around to ping you during your upkeep), and a Basalt Monolith will let you cast an artifact that costs 6. A Su-Chi would let you cast an artifact that costs 8, if you could find an artifact worth sacrificing your 4/4 creature in order to cast (and that you could afford to power with your remaining mana – ruling out Aladdin's Ring).

If any of you have been following along you'll note that this trick is similar to the Yawgmoth combo in the Yawgmoth-Chi deck, only in that deck the combo was used for end-game power, while in this deck it's used for speed.

I tried out a bunch of different artifacts when I was first building this deck. I settled on two, Triskelion and Juggernaut. I've always viewed Triskelions as being over-priced for their size, but their casting cost works perfectly with the Basalt Monoliths, and their direct damage is excellent if you're playing mono-blue. They're just so versatile. A single Triskelion can often kill two or three creatures, and still leave you with a creature of your own. You can then Unsummon it and do it again, or Transmute Artifact it into another one. The Triskelion's ability can be used without summoning sickness is unique, and you can even use it after having attacked, meaning that a Triskelion can potentially do 7 damage to an opponent in a single turn.

This deck can be played as either a fast-large-creature deck, or a card denial deck depending on your opening draw. Cast a Mana Vault your first turn and you can transmute it into a Juggernaut on turn two. That is blazing fast in Type 1.5 and can be a decisive edge. But what can make this deck truly devastating is the 4 Amnesia. Usually this is a late game card for slower decks, cast once you've established an environment where your opponent is holding cards. It is normally very difficult come up with the mana to cast it, both the total cost, 6, and the concentrated amount of blue mana: . But if you're playing straight blue with 20 islands it's not so hard to come up with. Odds are by turn 3, having drawn 9 or 10 cards, you will have enough colored mana to cast it. The Mana Vaults and Basalt Monoliths, each conveniently producing 3 colorless, give you the raw mana count you need to pull it off early in the game when it can be crippling to your opponent. Take for instance this opening sequence (which actually isn't as uncommon as you might think):

Turn 1: Play a Brass Man to hold off the Lions, Apes, and even Knights.
Turn 2: Put out a Mana Vault, and wait until the discard phase of your opponent's turn to Unsummon one of their creatures (earlier if they tap out).
Turn 3: Here's the fun part: cast Amnesia and watch them weep.
Turn 4: Now that you've emptied all those pesky Lightning Bolts and Disenchants from their hand, cast a Juggernaut and barrel on to victory.

I have toyed with adding white to increase the deck's removal capacity, but you really can't play very many Plains or you won't be able to cast the Amnesia. I've toyed with using something like 4 Tundra, 2 City of Brass and 2 Plains in order to add 4 Swords to Plowshares and 4 Disenchant, but I think I prefer having the Counterspells and Unsummons, since the Unsummon is so versatile in this deck, and the Counterspells help against one of this deck's weaknesses: Counterspell decks.

There is one thing that I could use some help with if there are any deck builders lurking. You may have noticed that this deck is made of 10 perfect pockets of 4 cards each and 20 land. While this maximizes the consistency of the deck's play, it reduces its versatility. With the Transmute Artifacts even a single copy of an artifact could be pulled out in a pinch. But I'm too close to the deck, unable to "kill my darlings" as writers say. It would be great if somebody could find the room for a few "reset button" type cards, cards that could be pulled to get you out of a pinch. A Nevinyrall's Disk would be great. It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway, no going over 60 cards.

Death Denial

2005-11-13T20:29:00.000-08:00

Type 1.5

Deck Series: From the Graveyard

This is the first in a series that I will be posting here inspired by a deck called Graveyard Shuffle submitted by Ivan Taylor. The deck reminded me of a very similar deck that I had worked on but never uploaded. My version (posted here) has some good concepts, but it never fully coalesced, never found that rhythm that a good deck does, you know what I mean? I intend to take the title of this series both literally and figuratively. I'll start out literally with this graveyard re-animating deck, but move on to other decks that I have started working on, but left for dead when they didn't work out. I will then implore you to take the concepts, make a better deck, and post it in the comments here.

So, about this deck. It has some card synergy that I like. The Nettling Imps work well with the Abu Ja'fars, Sengir Vampires and the first-striking Black Knights. The card-denial compliments the land-denial, and the re-animation compliments all of the above.

What I don't like about it is its weak creature removal, it's slowness (last card added was the Black Knights, those helped a bit), and the fact that it uses too many of the usual suspects. We all know that a first turn Dark Ritual to cast a Hypnotic Spectre is deadly, time to move on and start playing some different cards.

Can anyone help this deck, make it a little less clichéd, or little faster?

Big Scary Flying Things

2004-10-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

Type II

Another from the department of brute force decks: Big Scary Flying Things. And yet it plays very much like a control deck. Smoke to slow them down, direct damage to clean up their creatures, Jandor's Saddlebags to pull back for defense. It just does it bigger and faster than most decks, with 2nd turn Sengirs and 3rd turn Shivans.

Type One Land Destruction

2004-11-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

Type I

4 Demonic Hordes and 2 Granite Gargoyle added to Type One Land Destruction. Would love to fit in more gargoyles. A normal person would have a black vise or 4, but I prefer having plenty of defensive direct damage, and some creatures. Besides, Nether Void, The Abyss and The Tabernacl at Pendrell Vale all fail to work in this game, so a total lock is hard to achieve.

Type One Counter Spell

2004-11-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

Type I

This is the deck the guy used that won the first tournament I played in, to the best of my memory. It misses Mana Drain, but does allright anyway.

Whirling Armageddon

2004-11-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

Type II

Now there's a tricky deck to play. Absolutely brutal when it locks down. Should be very fast. Considering squeezing in Elvish Archers, need little guys that can take out other little guys.

This deck gets out something big quickly, blows all the lands, then stomps on them while they're down. The goal is to achieve a creature advantage early, and then lock down long enough to win. Being green and white it lacks adequite removal, but the idea is to stay on the offensive with superior creatures.

Queen of Dark and Light

2004-11-03T17:29:00.000-08:00

Type II

The challenge: a type II capable of defeating a type I. How to do it?

it must be able to handle creatures of any size cast early in the game.
it must be able to move quickly, without moxes that means cards have to be low cost.
every card must kick ass by itself, no time to wait for killer combos, you'll be dead before they happen.
while remaining powerful individually, cards should also compliment each other.

Turns out, this deck does well against type I creature decks, because it doesn't care what size their creatures are, and it can often beat a creatureless deck on speed, but it's not as good as I'd like against other decks, and often has mana problems. Not entirely satisfied, but the Black Knight / White Knight deck is one I'd like to keep persuing. Maybe it needs City of Brass to guarantee two of each color mana?

On The Wings of Angels and Devils

2004-11-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

Type I

My latest deck, On The Wings of Angels and Devils, ran the gauntlet of all my Type 1 decks winning 4 out of 5. The 5th match it lost to Explosion, who used a Black Lotus and a Tropical Island to cast Ancestrial Recall, Time Walk, and a Flying Man on the first turn. It then Giant Growthed the Flying Man, and had me down to 16 life before I took my first turn. A couple Unstable Mutations and a Psionic Blast later and I was dead.

Four Color Counterspell

2004-11-05T17:25:00.000-08:00

Type II

Nearly exact copy of a deck I still have. It's lots of fun to play, if somewhat inconsistent (being 4 colors with no dual lands).

Once I get these "powerful" decks out of my system I'm going to have to start building more fun decks. Start by restricting all those cards that you automatically put 4 of in a deck if you use a given color, like Lightning Bolt, Dark Ritual, Swords to Plowshares. That will add more variety. Then of course there are a number of novelty decks I'd like to build as well, like the Orchish Artillary and the Poisonous Walls decks.

Bayou From Beyond

2004-11-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

Type II

Bayou From Beyond is actually embarrassingly similar to Swamp Thing. The only significant differences are, mine is type II, I replaced the Ashes to Ashes (as much as I do like the spell) with Lord of the Pit, and I ditched the deck's namesake, Howl from Beyond. Unholy Strength and Giant Growth are just better cards, even with all the first-striking creatures.

About the LotP, I've been trying to build a deck centered around the Lord of the Pit with all these fast mana creatures so you'd get one out early, and then have food for him. But it never worked because the deck sucked until you got the LotP, so you died before ever casting it. Bayou From Beyond is fast and mean, the LotP is just the knockout punch.

Edge

2004-11-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

Type I

My latest creation, Edge, is a vicious little land destruction deck. It doesn't completely lock down all their land, just destroys enough to put them on the defensive. The creatures are low cost but hard to kill (Kird Ape, Granite Gargoyle, Serendib Efreet). With all the restricted cards and land destruction there wasn't even room in the deck for Lightning Bolts, but it seems to be doing ok without them.

Nevinyrall's Wrath

2004-11-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

Type I

So I promised some "fun" decks, I can't help it if I have a twisted sense of what is fun. But in my defense, it is a deck with red and white and no Swords to Plowshares or Lightning Bolts.

Tip

2004-11-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

Type I

As in "tip the scales". A Balance deck (pretending it wasn't restricted). Yes, again my sense of what makes a deck fun (Bottle of Suleiman) is on the demented side.

Sadomasochistic Djinn

2004-11-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

Type I

I keep building darker and darker decks. This one is just pure evil. I think it's time to build a nice friendly Verduran Enchantress/Rabid Wombat or Gravity Sphere/Moat deck. Update: only Gravity Sphere doesn't work. On the list it goes.

Unholy Alliance

2004-11-17T17:11:00.000-08:00

and Mental Flight

Type I and Type I

I've divided the decks in the Playdeck folder into Type I and Type II so that I can make a new deck run a gauntlet of opponents within its division. The trouble is, most of the Type I decks are only half-heartedly so. They have moxes, but no dual lands. They're just not as good as they should be.

Mental Flight and Unholy Alliance are the first that I've attempted to beef up. I'm not entirely satisfied, but they're better than they were.

Control

2004-11-28T14:58:00.000-08:00

Type I

Here we have perhaps one of the more annoying decks I've built. Copy, steal and counter are it's mainstays, but it's not afraid to curl up behind a Greater Realm of Preservation, and what's worse, Sleight of Mind it to match your deck. I'd been noticing my decks slipping towards the slightly slower side in order to gain more power. On The Wings of Angels and Devils was the beginning, it got even worse with Sadomasochistic Djinn, where more cards cost 4 mana than not. Next I'll have to circle back and build faster powerful decks, with more distributed roads to victory than these control decks with 2 large creatures (serra/sergir, juzam/erhnam). Sounds like my original type I actually.

Hope I'm not establishing a precedent here, but this situation was amusing enough to warrant a screenshot. Check out these Scrybe Sprites who think they're all bad. There only 2 Djinn's in the deck, the rest are Clones and Dopplegangers.

On a side note, I tried it out and the card Lich does work in this game. Mirror Universe and Dark Heart of the Wood do not, which is a shame, but I'll have to figure out how to build a Lich deck anyway.

Lich Spawn

2004-11-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

Type I

You can't build a deck around a single card (Balance being an obvious exception, but that's why they restricted it). You can build a deck around a set of very similar cards, or a single card can be the knockout punch, the final lock-down from which they never recover. But when you base a deck around a single card the other cards become just supporting cards. How can supporting cards keep you alive, or even win the game if you never draw that one card? This is how various decks that I have tried to build have failed. I built a Lord of the Pit deck with lots of fast mana and fuel creatures for him to eat. It would fizzle with a bunch of elves and birds, and rarely last very long.

That is exactly the situation that I found myself in when I tried to build a Lich deck. The life gaining cards were a waste of space without a Lich. And the card required so much support, counterspells so they couldn't kill you with a Disenchant, and lots of permanents; permanents are literally your life when you are the soul-sucking undead. I eventually built a deck good enough that you could live long enough to cast a Lich, but the Lich always just ended up sitting in my hand. So I took it out, and bumped up to 4 Control Magics and a Psionic Blast.

The resulting deck is good enough to take on any I've built so far. It's creatures are cheap but powerful for their cost and size. The control deck aspects mean you can take on anything of any size. It's more of the usual suspects, but that's hard to avoid in a type I environment full of finely honed decks playing only the best cards.

One thing that may not be immediately obvious is the need for City of Brass in a two color deck, and the lack of a full set of Moxes. The cards in this deck are really cheap to cast, necessary in this cutthroat speed and power environment, but nearly all of them require two mana of the same color. I usually make it a rule that no matter how many colors I'm playing, only one will require two of the same. But this deck broke that rule in favor of powerful spells like Control Magic and Counter Spell. Worth it of course, but it just wasn't drawing the right mana. I could have increased the amount of land in the deck, but that just dilutes it's power when what I need is the right color mana, not lots of it. So City of Brass was introduced and it's worked much better since then. A little painful at times, but what's a little sacrifice compared to consistency and power?

Unholy Enchantress

2004-11-30T18:32:00.000-08:00

Type II

Going with the concept that you can't build a deck around a card, you have to build a good deck first, I build this Enchantress deck. It is an adaptation of Bayou From Beyond. I took a viscious fast creature deck that was already using some enchantments, and attempted to solve the slow-down problem by adding Venduran Enchantress. You will note that there are no pansy-ass defensive enchantments like Web or Living Artifact. It's a brutally fast deck, and with a well timed enchantress can achieve a massive card advantage (which is what this game is all about) and use that advantage to crush the opponent.